Your Top 10 Favorite Players of All-Time

[Senser81]

I had a soft spot for guys like Larry Johnson, Anthony Mason, Charles Oakley, and Vernon "Mad Man" Maxwell.

Those two guys were incredibly overrated. NBA network recently replayed Game 4 of the Bulls-Knicks 1993 series, and I was surprised at how little talent were on those Knick teams, and how much John Starks had to do. Not only was Starks the only guy on the team who could hit an outside shot, he also was the only guy who could remotely guard Jordan. The PG position for the Knicks was a black hole. Doc Rivers was good for 5 fouls and no points, and Greg Anthony was TERRIBLE. He was a total hacker who would frequently throw up long range airballs. Anthony Mason travelled just as much as Ewing, and his contribution on defense was to run over people, especially if it was a few seconds after the ball had been shot. Pippen completely schooled Mason, and Mason probably should have fouled out of every game by the 2nd period. Another huge mismatch was Horace Grant on Oakley. Grant could block Oakley's shot anytime he wanted to, and was way more athletic.

[Realist]

1. Penny Hardaway
2. Vince Carter
3. Michael Jordan
4. Allen Iverson
5. Shaq
6. Derrick Rose
7. Scottie Pippen
8. Gary Payton
9. Kobe
10. Magic

First 4 are in order. Last 6 can be switched anyway

[jeffx]

1. Dr. J
2. Walt Frazier
3. Bernard King
4. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
5. Magic Johnson
6. Wilt Chamberlain
7. Earl Monroe
8. David Thompson
9. George Gervin
10. Patrick Ewing
11. Jerry West
12. Oscar Robertson
13. Hakeem Olajuwon
14. Nate Archibald
15. Moses Malone

[SHOGUN]

Carmelo Anthony
Kobe Bryant
Vince Carter
Penny Hardaway
Allen Iverson
Michael Jordan
Darius Miles
Paul Pierce
Antoine Walker
Jason Williams

[Warner2BruceTD]

Those two guys were incredibly overrated. NBA network recently replayed Game 4 of the Bulls-Knicks 1993 series, and I was surprised at how little talent were on those Knick teams, and how much John Starks had to do. Not only was Starks the only guy on the team who could hit an outside shot, he also was the only guy who could remotely guard Jordan. The PG position for the Knicks was a black hole. Doc Rivers was good for 5 fouls and no points, and Greg Anthony was TERRIBLE. He was a total hacker who would frequently throw up long range airballs. Anthony Mason travelled just as much as Ewing, and his contribution on defense was to run over people, especially if it was a few seconds after the ball had been shot. Pippen completely schooled Mason, and Mason probably should have fouled out of every game by the 2nd period. Another huge mismatch was Horace Grant on Oakley. Grant could block Oakley's shot anytime he wanted to, and was way more athletic.

This was no big secret in NY, where it is well established that the Knicks never managed to find Ewing a proper running mate in 15 years.

Starks really was best suited as a third of fourth option, and the fact that you can make the argument that he was the best player that a prime Ewing had a chance to play with speaks to the lack of talent the Knicks managed to put around Ewing.

[jeffx]

Co-sign on what W2B said. It's so frustrating rooting for this team because ownership rarely gets it right. The last time they did (1973) I was 12 - yikes.

[FirstTimer]

he posted 22/9/5 consistently

If by "consistently" you mean "never" or "almost twice".

Sure.

[FirstTimer]

Those two guys were incredibly overrated. NBA network recently replayed Game 4 of the Bulls-Knicks 1993 series, and I was surprised at how little talent were on those Knick teams, and how much John Starks had to do. Not only was Starks the only guy on the team who could hit an outside shot, he also was the only guy who could remotely guard Jordan. The PG position for the Knicks was a black hole. Doc Rivers was good for 5 fouls and no points, and Greg Anthony was TERRIBLE. He was a total hacker who would frequently throw up long range airballs. Anthony Mason travelled just as much as Ewing, and his contribution on defense was to run over people, especially if it was a few seconds after the ball had been shot. Pippen completely schooled Mason, and Mason probably should have fouled out of every game by the 2nd period. Another huge mismatch was Horace Grant on Oakley. Grant could block Oakley's shot anytime he wanted to, and was way more athletic.

This past weekend was great. NBATV was showing the ECF, the WCF, and the NBA Finals from 1993. Some classic/awesome shit right there. I forgot how good Kevin Johnson was.

[Loco]

Tim Duncan, Paul Pierce, Rodman, Barkley those guys are easy picks but Walter McCarty will always be the man!
For Christmas one year my dad bought me a replica jersey w/ shorts of McCarty, I wore that shit to Gym through middle school

[Len B]

If by "consistently" you mean "never" or "almost twice".

Sure.

He averaged 21/9/4 his first six seasons in the league. Sorry for being slightly off.

http://bkref.com/tiny/B0rQO

Five seasons averaged 17/7/3 between 1995-2003. Only 16 players made that list total, Walker is on there 5 times while Malone, Webber and Garnett were the only ones on that list more. Severely underrated player.

[Senser81]

He averaged 21/9/4 his first six seasons in the league. Sorry for being slightly off.

http://bkref.com/tiny/B0rQO

Five seasons averaged 17/7/3 between 1995-2003. Only 16 players made that list total, Walker is on there 5 times while Malone, Webber and Garnett were the only ones on that list more. Severely underrated player.

3 comments:

1) Walker never averaged 22/9/5 in his career. So to say he consistently did this is...wrong.

2) 17/7/3 sounds like a counting stat to me. Of those 49 17/7/3 seasons turned in by players from 95-03, Walker has FIVE OF THE ELEVEN LEAST REMARKABLE SEASONS. So basically you found a stat that sounds somewhat impressive in which Walker is clearly the weakest player to ever do so. He makes Tom Gugliotta and Shareef Adbur-Raheem seem like superstars.

3) To draw a sports analogy, Walker reminds me of Neal Anderson of the Bears, who was another underrated guy and consistently had 2000-yard rushing seasons for the Bears in the 1990's.

[A Tasty Burgerr]

He averaged 21/9/4 his first six seasons in the league. Sorry for being slightly off.

http://bkref.com/tiny/B0rQO

Five seasons averaged 17/7/3 between 1995-2003. Only 16 players made that list total, Walker is on there 5 times while Malone, Webber and Garnett were the only ones on that list more. Severely underrated player.

COUNTERPOINTS

http://bkref.com/tiny/UTvfu

http://bkref.com/tiny/WsnKl

Don't neglect my counterpoints.

He was talented but there is no denying he was extremely unproductive, there is a reason he is at the very very bottom of your list in win shares lol.

[Len B]

3 comments:

1) Walker never averaged 22/9/5 in his career. So to say he consistently did this is...wrong.

2) 17/7/3 sounds like a counting stat to me. Of those 49 17/7/3 seasons turned in by players from 95-03, Walker has FIVE OF THE ELEVEN LEAST REMARKABLE SEASONS. So basically you found a stat that sounds somewhat impressive in which Walker is clearly the weakest player to ever do so. He makes Tom Gugliotta and Shareef Adbur-Raheem seem like superstars.

3) To draw a sports analogy, Walker reminds me of Neal Anderson of the Bears, who was another underrated guy and consistently had 2000-yard rushing seasons for the Bears in the 1990's.

He's at the bottom of the list because it's based on win shares, and correct me if I'm wrong, but win shares is solely based on how much you contributed to a teams win that game, no? I never said he was Tim Duncan or KG, so I don't expect him to be able to turn a team of misfits into a .500 squad.

He was on the worst teams I can remember for a majority of his productive seasons. They didn't win any games, thus his win shares is so low. The best player on his team until Paul Pierce developed was Kenny Anderson, and then maybe Eric Williams.

There's a reason the Celtics went from a 16-25 win team (just Walker) to a 45 win team (Pierce+Walker) back down to a 20-30 win team (just Pierce). They had the thinnest NBA roster for a decade that you'll ever see, and it's because they were horrendous at drafting and trading.

Although I feel like my point is way off now, as it seems people are saying I thought he was the best player in the NBA. I just simply think he was the most underrated versatile player in the league from the late 90's/early 2000's.

[Senser81]

He's at the bottom of the list because it's based on win shares, and correct me if I'm wrong, but win shares is solely based on how much you contributed to a teams win that game, no? I never said he was Tim Duncan or KG, so I don't expect him to be able to turn a team of misfits into a .500 squad.

Even aside from the win shares, his seasons were the weakest of any of the other players on the list. He is averaging about 18 ppg, 7-8 rebs, and 3 assists, so he is on the borderline every time. His shooting percentages are so terrible they have to be seen to be believed (in 2001-02, Walker led the NBA in FG attempts with 1689 while SHOOTING 39% FROM THE FIELD! Walker missed 1000+ shots IN ONE SEASON ALONE) and the guy was a turnover machine.

IIRC, part of Boston's woes were due to the fact that Walker was making an exorbitant salary and not producing at a superstar level.

[FirstTimer]

Even aside from the win shares, his seasons were the weakest of any of the other players on the list. He is averaging about 18 ppg, 7-8 rebs, and 3 assists, so he is on the borderline every time. His shooting percentages are so terrible they have to be seen to be believed (in 2001-02, Walker led the NBA in FG attempts with 1689 while SHOOTING 39% FROM THE FIELD! Walker missed 1000+ shots IN ONE SEASON ALONE) and the guy was a turnover machine.

IIRC, part of Boston's woes were due to the fact that Walker was making an exorbitant salary and not producing at a superstar level.

Antoine Walker was a poor mans Luol Deng?